The Complete Early Poirot Omnibus

The Mysterious Affair at Styles; The Murder on the Links; The Man Who Was Number Four; and 25 Others

By: Agatha Christie, Finn J.D. John

Narrated by: Finn J.D. John

Hercule Poirot made his first public appearance in 1920 at the age, one guesses, of about 60. He finally breathed his metaphorical last in 1975 at the age of maybe 75 or 80. And in that short span of time — either 55 years or about 20, depending on how you count it — Poirot became one of England’s most profitable and ubiquitous export commodities.

But it’s very clear that his creator, Agatha Christie, did not at first intend for it to go that way. She made a very definite attempt to end the Hercule Poirot saga in the mid-1920s, when his story consisted simply of three novels and 25 short stories.

It is that first Hercule Poirot bibliography, the one Christie clearly intended to leave for posterity when she typed up the last few words of The Crag in the Dolomites sometime in 1924, that is presented in this collection:

The first Hercule Poirot novel: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

The second Hercule Poirot novel: The Murder on the Links (alternate title: The Girl with the Anxious Eyes)

The first series of 12 short stories: Tales with a Sting

The second series of 12 short stories (plus a 13th "encore performance"): The Grey Cells of Monsieur Poirot

The third series of 12 short stories (a serial novel): The Man Who Was Number Four

©2020 Bankshott Books (P)2020 Pulp-Lit Productions

Agatha Christie is never bad

A lifelong fan of Agatha Christie, I enjoyed the stories again. The narrator, meh.. not good enough for her books.

Yikes! The narration choice

I'm totally baffled as to why they chose this narrator. Crazy inappropriate for this material. any British accent --even the faintest essence of one--would have made this infinitely better.

aghhhhhhh!

Who devised this Audible horror, I agree with all about the performance BUT the worst was Japp....Hastings and Japp...all others passable at least so far. I almost was going to request a refund, however I got interested. 🤔 why can the country inspector sound English yet Japp sounds like a fool and Hastings just wrong? SOMEBODY SHOULD BE FIRED.

Wrong narrator

Stories are amazing / I wish I could get over the voice but cannot. Can’t do English characters with Midwestern accents.

run on voice

The narrator has a bit of a run on voice I lost interest within the 1st 15 minutes and I absolutely love these stories stories was a disappointment I kind of wish I could get my credit back.

The French accent is so bad

I love Agatha Christie and I was interested in listening to all of these Poirot short stories, but… not this way. The narrator’s voice is quite nice, but he doesn’t have an English accent and his French accents are terrible. So much so that I’m “finishing” this book halfway through the second story. I just can’t do it!

Save your money

No British accents were attempted in the reading of this book. The French accent was and it is brutal.

Unsatisfactory Narration

The Poirot stories are familiar and beloved, however this narration makes listening to those beloved stories painful. The narrator's American midwest accent and mispronunciations were more reminiscent of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn than Poirot, Japp and Hastings. Happy to have wasted a monthly credit rather than cold, hard cash on this one.

Reading disappointing

Not at all in keeping with vibe of English mystery- sounds more appropriate for an American young adult work of fiction - clumsy accents, etc... surprised audible charges a credit fir this - I want my credit back!

Worst Narration Ever

Narrator couldn't do accents.
The British characters sounded like they were born in Tennessee.